


Nap

by TheWitchOfTheRock



Series: Lab Partners [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Entrapdak, F/M, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 04:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20270287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWitchOfTheRock/pseuds/TheWitchOfTheRock
Summary: Everyone needs sleep- even clones. Entrapta is going to make sure Hordak gets enough- for science!





	Nap

Hordak, despite his genetic flaws, was quite exceptional- at least by Etherian standards. He could go weeks without eating, days without water, hours without a breath of air if need be. He could last days without sleep. 

3 days, and about. 11 hours, by his count now, since he shut his eyes for as much as an hour. Hoard prime didn’t need sleep. Most hoard clones could go 28 days on an hour. Hordak himself normally allowed himself an hour a day while the rest of his crew slept their excessive 8. It kept him well rested, and his mind sharp for his experiments. An hour and a bit every other day if he was very busy- but that left him groggy.

More than three days and he was starting to slip up. He was just so close to a breakthrough in the portal experiment that he kept thinking “Just another hour and it would be done. Just another hour. “

He had -to his credit- intended to sleep for a little while Entrapta slept. But his new armor had reduced his physical feelings of exhaustion, so he hadn’t noticed the time slip past until she was awake again. 

Now he was determined to wait until she slept again to get some rest.

But there was a problem. 

“Are you sure you aligned this quark stabilizer right?” Entrapta’s nasally, but endearing voice rang out behind him, “ because it looks a little wonky to me” 

Hordak suppressed a sigh and rubbed at the corners of his eyes. His mind was foggy, and his head was starting to ache . “Feel free to check it.” He said, his voice carefully level. 

“Well I gotta!” She said with a laugh, “ If that malfunctioned we’d have all kinds of problems with-“

His mind slipped away from her. He was looking at a screen with a line of numbers, trying to find... what was it? Had he forgotten? He could hardly see the data on the screen . 

He hadn’t noticed time slip from him when his head fell forward and smacked the screen. He cursed in a language Entrapta wouldn’t understand, and righted himself.

Entrapta has stopped talking. He looked over at her to see her eying him with that same concern she had showed just before she made his armor.

“What” he hissed.

Entrapta let a moment of silence pass- contemplating her words. “When’s the last time you slept?” She finally asked.

Hordak snorted and looked away, “I don’t need sleep like your people do” he stated.

“But you do.” She said, “Need sleep, I mean”

“I’m fine.” He snapped. He hated sleeping. As inevitable and necessary as it was, he hated it. It left him too vulnerable for too long.

“You’re clearly not.” She stated. She dropped the tools from her hands and hair. One long tendril snapped forward and grabbed him around the waist. “You’re making uncharacteristic mistakes and lowering our collective efficiency.”

“Let me go” he hissed, pulling at her hair- all for show at this point. Her hair was stronger than he was - especially if she lifted him slightly off his feet as she normally did. Still, he felt he had to make some protest . 

“You’ll be less grumpy if you get some sleep too.” She was walking towards the small infirmary he had adjacent to his sanctum. Normally used for more intense repairs on his old armor, and for the odd hour of sleep he allowed himself. For this reason, it had a lock. Entrapta has used it once or twice to make some adjustments to his armor, so she knew there was a small cot there alongside the operation table. 

“I’m not-“ a puff of hair silenced his protest. She opened the door, and set him in the bed She was about to go so far as to tuck him in with the old brown blanket at the foot of the bed when he sat up . 

“We are wasting time.” He hissed, and got back up to his feet. Entrapta caught him with her hair and held him in place.

“I agree.” She said, “working at minimal efficiency is a waste of time, and frustrating. Taking some time to sleep now will increase your effectiveness and save time in the long run.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong. She moved him aside, set on the bed, leaned against the wall, and lowered him down with his head resting on her soft, round belly, holding his arms and legs down firmly but gently with her hair .

“And I will hold you here if I have to - for science” 

It still took Hordak aback that she treated him this way- with equal parts impudence and compassion. He wasn’t used to the compassion, and still waited for the joke, the catch, the “why, what did she want” out of this.

The impudence, He kind of admired. 

“I’ll make you a deal” she said, “You lay here for ten minutes, just relax, and be quiet. If you’re not asleep by then, I’ll drop it. 

“Fine” he grumbled, resigned. She was right- he had to admit that, and ten minutes was a lot less than he would waste arguing with her. 

She smiled, and loosened her hairs grip on him, but didn’t move, or make an effort to move his head from her belly. He wasn’t used to this. And staring up at her was slightly awkward, so he turned his head to the side.

A moment later, he felt her fingers running through his hair. “What are you doing” he asked, deadpan, even though it actually felt nice. He knew most Etherians had no feeling in their actual hair- he did. 

“Trying to figure out what your hair is made of” she said, “it’s similar to our hair but-“

He didn’t hear the rest of what she was saying. The gentle scratching on his scalp, and her fingers through his hair felt so pleasant and relaxing that, along with his current exhaustion, it pulled him into sudden sleep. 

—————

Entrapta had been taking for a good five minutes before she noticed he was asleep. 

“Ha! I knew it” She said to nobody in particular. She considered moving him so she could get back to work, but didn’t want to wake him.

Besides, he looked so adorable - in her opinion- when he was sleeping, and she saw it so infrequently....

She pulled the brown blanket over his shoulders, wrapped her hair around herself, and figured maybe she could stand a little nap too.


End file.
